Dalton Smith is determined to make his dream of fighting at Hillsborough Stadium a reality.
The new WBC super lightweight champion expects to have a homecoming fight in Sheffield this summer. He is not yet a headliner at the stadium, but in the long run he has the ambition to bring a big game to Hillsborough.
“It would be a dream come true. It would be the cherry on top of the cake,” Smith shared Sky Sports news.
“A big game at Hillsborough. You say it all these years and people just think ‘he says it, he says it’, but to make it happen, to fight for a world title, to defend a world title, it’s unbelievable.
“The ball is rolling in the right direction to get a big game there. But one game at a time.”
Smith is expected to box mandatory challenger Alberto Puello next.
“We’re looking forward to June time for a big homecoming in Sheffield,” he said. “Nothing has been signed yet. I love an awkward southpaw… That’s Puello’s style. Puello has been on our radar for the best part of a year. We’re very familiar with him, we’ve done training camps to work on him.
“He’s not something that’s going to catch us off guard.”
Smith is coming off a career best win in January when he traveled to New York to beat Subriel Matias with a stunning fifth round stoppage to win the WBC world title.
Ahead of their clash, Matias tested positive for a banned substance, but the fight was allowed to go ahead with the WBC saying there were “extenuating circumstances”, citing Matias’ consumption of supplements known to be contaminated with Ostarine, and the negative finding’s reported levels of Ostarine being “relatively low”.
Undaunted, Smith took out Matias in style. “We knew we were going to have to go into the trenches,” he said. “We prepared as well as we could. I was confident that any situation we were in could handle.
“We knew we were going to get into a firefight, you do with Matias. As funny as it is, that’s the way to beat him. People said we were crazy to think about it. But sometimes you just have to find ways to win.”
Retaining the title should lead Smith to the biggest names in the division, with Shakur Stevenson, Teofimo Lopez and more active at 140 lbs.
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Shakur Stevenson entered the ring to the tune of ‘I Just Can’t Wait to Be King’ from The Lion King ahead of his WBC lightweight title fight with Josh Padley.
“All I have to do is keep winning and the big games will be there,” Smith said. “I’m in the driver’s seat now. All I have to do now is keep winning and set goals and the sky’s the limit.
“I am world champion,” he concluded. “It’s sunk in but I don’t think it’ll really sink in until the end of the career. I believe there’s a lot more for me to go and achieve. In a way the pressure is off, I’ve become a world champion, whatever happens in boxing now is a bonus.
“But that doesn’t mean the ambitions are less. I’m hungrier than ever. Because there’s a lot more I can continue to achieve.
“It’s been hard work to get to where I am now, but there’s a lot more hard work to do.”